In a refinery asphaltenes deposits may block transport at the refinery, or block catalysts that may be used in the relevant refinery processes.
Hence, it is evident that it is desirable to find a method to solubilise asphaltenes in oil, i.e. hydrocarbon mixtures.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,422 a method is described in which asphaltenes deposits in a well bore are removed by injection of a deasphalted oil in order to solubilise the asphaltenes. In the process of U.S. Pat. No. 6,093,684 asphaltenes and waxes are dissolved by employing a specific aromatic fraction of a crude oil.